LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Dylan Penn, who led Bellarmine with 16.6 points and five assists per game, announced via Twitter on Thursday that he will play his final college season at Vermont.
Penn entered the transfer portal March 23 but had been watching developments in the NCAA's Division I Council, which earlier this month took up the issue of whether to allow reclassifying programs to become eligible for the NCAA Tournament after only two seasons, instead of four.
When the council tabled that proposal until August, Bellarmine was left in limbo, and Penn decided he wanted to take a shot at playing in the NCAA Tournament.
At Vermont, Penn joins a program that has made three of the past five NCAA Tournaments and went 28-6 last season before losing to Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
TIME TO GO TO WORK @UVMmbb 😼 pic.twitter.com/lJgHEgjGOp
— Dyl (@dhpenn30) April 28, 2022
Penn had continued to attend activities with his Bellarmine teammates, and Knights head coach Scott Davenport gave his best re-recruiting sales pitch. But not being able to sell a potential NCAA Tournament appearance deprived him of his ace argument.
Last season, Bellarmine became the first team in more than two decades to win its conference tournament but miss the NCAA Tournament because it was in the second year of reclassification.
Penn was named the MVP of that tournament.
Bellarmine is seeking a waiver to allow it to play in the NCAA Tournament next season, but an NCAA response to that will come too late to help the Knights in the case of Penn, who was facing a May 1 deadline to notify schools of his intentions.
Copyright 2022 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
